The Nation’s Capital Deaf Bowling League was founded through the efforts of Milton Friedman (1910- ), a deaf Government Printing Office employee and ardent bowler. Friedman took up duckpin bowling in 1936, then switched to tenpin bowling in 1943. His plans to form a city league were put on hold by World War II, but in 1945 he and his coworker Arthur Steelmacher founded Washington, DC’s first tenpin bowling league, the Washington City Tenpin Bowling Association. This league was mostly composed of hearing bowlers, so Friedman decided to form another league specifically for the deaf.

In 1946, the Nation’s Capital Deaf Bowling League held its first games at the Arcadia House in Northwest DC, with four teams and Friedman as president, Edwin Engelgau as vice-president, Luther Bunn as secretary, and Jack Allen as treasurer.

Friedman continued to be an active promoter of deaf bowling, including sponsoring tournament teams and hosting tournaments. Even after retirement, he stayed active in the bowling scene. When he moved to Frederick, MD, in 1989, he founded the Frederick Deaf Bowling League there.